<LS£S2 



FftZG' frtiGHT- S. CHOCKS 



*M<? 6? 



LET cTWONTANA 
HAVE 

FREE NIGHT 
SCHOOLS 




Respectfully Submitted to 

the 15 th Legislative Assembly" of the 

State of Montana 



Arguments Collected and Published by 

The Great Falls Commercial Club 

Great Falls, Montana 



T1 2 



Extract of School Laws, State of Montana 

SESSION 1913 _ 
Chapter 5, Section 507, Paragraph 4, Page 51. 



NIGHT SCHOOLS 



The trustees shall have power to organize and maintain out- 
side of regular school hours, special sessions of the public schools 
whenever in their judgment, such sessions are necessary. They 
shall determine what subjects shall be taught, and shall make all 
necessary rules and regulations for such sessions including the 
terms of admission of pupils. Such schools shall be free to ALL 
ELEGIBLE *PUPILS of the district 

(Change desired: — Such schools shall be free to 
all persons over the age of 16 in the district....) 

and the expense of maintenance be paid out of the general school 
funds of the district. 



*between the ages of 6 and 21. 



FREE NIGHT 
SCHOOLS 

cA SOLUTION TO 

A PERPLEXING 

PROBLEM 



Professor Holmes of Harvard University says, ''The aim of 
education socially considered is to provide for every normal individ- 
ual, whatever his endowment, nurture or experience an opportunity 
to prepare himself for a part in the legitimate work of the world, 
a share in its proper pleasure and an understanding of the meaning 
and value of the life he leads." To extend this process of enlighten- 
ment, to raise the efficiency of our workmen, to broaden the vision 
of our people, and to produce a higher type of citizenship the claim 
for public support of night schools in Montana is most respectfully 
submitted. 



cArguments Collected and Published by 

The Great Falls Commercial Club 

Great Falls, Montana 



Page Two 



FREE NIGHT 



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p e of D. 

JAN 30 1917 



FREE NIGHT SCHOOLS Page Three 



RESOLUTION 



WHEREAS — Free night schools are essential to the welfare of 
the community by helping us to first digest and then assimilate our 
foreign born population, and 

WHEREAS — Free night schools will give an opportunity to 
those adults who desire to continue their primary education that 
may have been discontinued in their school days for economic 
or other reasons, and 

WHEREAS — There are at present no means available for the 
establishment and maintenance of such schools except by private 
contributions, and 

WHEREAS— We, the Great Falls Commercial Club, feel and 
believe that it is the duty of the state to educate and better its 
citizenry, therefore 

BE IT RESOLVED— That the Great Falls Commercial Club 
petition the Montana legislature to pass an amendment to the 
present school law that will empower local school boards to estab- 
lish and maintain at their discretion such night schools in the dis- 
tricts under their jurisdiction, and 

BE IT RESOLVED— That the other commercial clubs and 
chambers of commerce of the State of Montana be requested to 
join the Great Falls Commercial Club in its petition. 

Regularly passed by the Great Falls Commercial Club, at a meet- 
ing December 1, 1916. 

(Signed) L. Newman, 

President. 

(Signed) A. J. Breitenstein, 

Secretary. 



Page Four FREE NIGHT SCHOOLS 



PARTIAL LIST of Civic, Industrial and Commercial organ- 
izations who have passed resolutions to the effect that the Montana 
State Legislature be petitioned to pass an amendment to the present 
School Law providing an authorization for school districts to es- 
tablish and maintain Free Night schools. 

The Woman's Club of Great Falls. 

The Woman's Club of Butte. 

The Woman's Club of Fort Benton. 

The Woman's Club of Columbus. 

The Woman's Club of Roundup. 

The Woman's Club of Billings. 

The Housekeeper's Club of Bozeman. 

The Travel Club of Great Falls. 

The Commercial Club of Lewistown. 

The Electricians Union of Great Falls. 

The Teamsters Union of Great Falls. 

The Painters Union of Great Falls. 

The Cascade County Trades and Labor Council. 

The Laundry Workers Union of Great Falls. 

The Missoula County Trades and Labor Council. 

The Tuesday Musical Club of Great Falls. 

The Glendive Chamber of Commerce, etc. 



FREE NIGHT SCHOOLS Page Five 

Great Falls Mill and Smeltermen's Union 

No. 16 of the Western Federation of Miners 



Great Falls, Montana, March 22, 1916. 

At the regular meeting of the Mill & Smeltermen's Union, No. 
16, Western Federation of Miners, of Great Falls, Montana, held 
March 21, 1916, the following resolutions were unanimously 
adopted : 

WHEREAS, the laws of the State of Montana make no pro- 
vision for the free education of persons above the age of twenty- 
one, and 

WHEREAS, an effort is being made by a few of our public- 
spirited citizens to establish and maintain a free public night school 
in our city, and it appearing to be more of an undertaking than 
can be properly carried on by voluntary means, and 

WHEREAS, we believe such schools would be of great benefit 
to a large portion of our community and ultimately tend to make 
better citizens of our foreign born residents by teaching them the 
English language and help them to better understand the form of 
government they are living under, and, 

WHEREAS, anything that will improve the conditions of our 
neighbors will result in a direct benefit to ourselves, therefore be it, 

RESOLVED, that the Mill & Smeltermen's Union, No. 16, 
Western Federation of Miners, of Great Falls, does hereby go on 
record as being in favor of such legislation being enacted at the 
next session of the legislature as will permit the organizing and 
maintaining of free public night schools at the discretion of the 
various local school boards, and that means be provided to main- 
tain the same from the school funds of the State of Montana, and 
be it further 

RESOLVED, that we furnish a copy of these resolutions to 
each of the unions in the State of Montana that are affiliated with 
the Western Federation of Miners, and ask them to co-operate 
with us in this manner. Also, that we furnish copies to the daily 
press of this city and that they be entered on the minutes of our 
union. 

ED. YOUNG, President. 
J. CAMPBELL, Secretary. 



Page Si* FREENIGHTSCHOOLS 



Miners Take Stand for Night Schools 



State Convention of United Mine Workers Declares in Favor of 

Such Institutions and Ask Legislature to 

Authorize Them 



(From the Great Falls Daily Tribune, August 25, 1916.) 

That the mine workers of the state favor action by the next 
legislature which will permit of the establishment of night schools 
for educating foreign born residents of the state in the English 
language was demonstrated yesterday at the forenoon session of 
the biennial convention of the United Mine Workers for the state 
of Montana. 

The matter was put through in the form of a resolution which 
was introduced by the delegates from Sand Coulee and favorably 
reported upon by the committee on resolutions as a part of its 
day's offerings. The resolution follows: 

"Whereas, a great number of members of our organization 
are foreigners who are not able to read, write and speak the Eng- 
lish language and thus they are prevented from understanding the 
policy and laws of our organization as well as the laws and form of 
government of this country, and 

"Whereas, the laws of the state of Montana do not provide for 
the free education of persons above the age of 21, and 

"Whereas, the state of Washington, at its last legislative ses- 
sion, passed a law whereby night schools are established, con- 
ducted and maintained for adult persons, therefore, 

"Be it Resolved, that we go on record in favor of the passage 
of a law to provide for establishing, conducting and maintaining of 
night schools wherever necessity calls for such schools. 

"STEPHEN ELY, 
"NELS NELSON, 
"WILLIAM CORCORAN." 



FREE NIGHT SCHOOLS Page Seven 

Should Montana Amend Her Laws So as to 

Permit the Use of School Funds for 

Evening Schools? 



The most important single item of school activity during the 
past few years is the organization of night schools. According to 
Dexter the beginning of the public evening school movement of the 
present day, which has spread to every part of the country, was at 
Louisville, Kentucky, in 1834. In 1868 night schools were pro- 
vided as a part of the system of public instruction in Chicago, 
Brooklyn, New York, Lowell, Newark, New Orleans, Providence, 
Salem, San Francisco, and St. Louis. In 1881 but 32 cities in the 
United States reported evening schools but in 1900, 165 cities re- 
ported such schools, and in 1910 according to the report of the 
United States Commissioner of Education, 227 cities maintained 
such schools. 

The total enrollment in the evening schools in America is 
greater than the enrollment of all other types of industrial or sup- 
plementary schools combined. It was 150,770 in 1890, 203,000 in 
1901 and 374,900 in 1910. Add to these figures the enrollment in 
the Young Men's Christian Association evening schools and the 
numerous evening schools under private management and our grand 
total of the enrollment in all the evening schools in the United 
States will greatly exceed half a million pupils. 

What does this unparalleled record of growth signify? That 
there is an increasing demand throughout our country for greater 
efficiency and better citizenship as obtained through the process 
of education. The purpose of the evening school varies with the 
community but will generally fall within one of three classes: 

1. To provide educational opportunities for those who have 
not completed the day school course. 

2. To give special training to those who desire to become 
more efficient wage earners. 

3. To give instruction in English to non-English speaking 
people. 

The evening schools are maintained not only in large cities but 



Page Eight FREE NIGHT SCHOOLS 

also in smaller cities and towns and even in rural districts. The 
kind of instruction meeted out depends upon the particular needs of 
each community. In many places the problem is principally to give 
foreigners a working knowledge of English and to train them in 
citizenship. In Passiac, N. J., nearly half of the students enrolled 
are non-English-speaking people. In St. Louis about one-third are 
foreign born; in Erie, a majority. On the other hand, at Altoona, 
Penn., where the night school system has been developed in a most 
extensive manner, less than ten per cent of the enrollment are 
foreigners. 

The practical value to be derived from this system is evidenced 
by the increased appropriations for its support. Baltimore jumps 
from $3,000 to $25,000 in ten years, Chicago from $58,000 to $172,000 
for a like period, New York from $347,000 to $800,000. 

If we are to be guided by the lessons learned from the exper- 
ience of foreign countries our faith in evening schools will increase 
and we will resolutely do everything that we can to stimulate their 
growth. France and Switzerland both are conspicuous because of 
the debt they owe to their extensive systems of evening continua- 
tion schools. England for more than half a century has relied upon 
them as a most important factor in her national scheme of educa- 
tion and at present 9 per cent of the entire population between the 
ages of 14 and 18 attend such schools. Germany's evening schools, 
as a supplement to the day schools, have been a tower of strength. 
In many places the enrollment in the evening schools between the 
ages of 14 and 20 has exceeded the enrollment in the day schools. 

While in America the percentage of enrollment in evening 
schools is considerably less than in these European countries we 
have some localities conspicous for their large enrollment. The 
total enrollment in the public evening schools of Massachusetts in 
cities having a population of over 8,000 is 60,190. This means that 
throughout the state 20 per cent of all the young persons between 
the ages of 15 and 20 are enrolled in evening schools. The record 
of New York is close to that of Massachusetts. New York City 
alone has an evening enrollment of 109,000; Rochester, N. Y., has 
over 8,000 evening pupils, and Newark, N. J., makes an even finer 
showing with a record of 36,000. 

With so many and such splendid examples of rapidly develop- 
ing evening school systems, we surely have reason to demand of 



FREE NIGHT SCHOOLS Page Nine 

our own state an equal opportunity with other states in meeting 
the needs of our people who lack adequate education or who are 
unable to understand and use the English language. In every man- 
ufacturing, mining and agricultural industry within our state there 
are positions full of drudgery, with poor pay and no outlook, dead- 
ening to the boy who has no vision. These same positions are full 
of opportunity, are rich in human experience, are presenting new 
problems daily and are leading onward and upward for the boy 
who has vision to see and ambition to climb. 

How may we transform for the great multitude of American 
workmen (youth and adults) the first picture into the second? This 
is the educational problem of our day. The evening school is the 
only agency with which to do this work. 

T. KERR. 
Principal of Schools, Stanford, Fergus County, Mont. 



Free Night Schools and Safety, National 
and Industrial 

Milo W. Krejci* and James L. Price** 

♦Assistant Superintendent **Secretary Central Safety Committee 

Anaconda Copper Mining Company 

Great Falls Reduction Works 



Reprinted from the Quarterly of the Montana Society" of Engineers 

According to the latest census there are in this country 7,811,- 
502 foreign born whites, 10 years of age, or over, engaged in gainful 
occupations. When we make allowances for the number of foreign 
born whites who are either under 10 years of age, or who are out 
of work, we are confronted with a total that is nothing short of 
staggering to many and conceivable only to a few. These millions 
of foreigners, or at least, those millions who don't speak English, 
are at present a source of a certain amount of inconvenience. In 
times of national crises, however, they are sure to become a menace 
of the first magnitude. The only features and traits that are com- 
mon about our non-English-speaking immigrants are their desire 
to make as much money as they can, which is, of course, natural; 
their devotion to their mother countries, which we also understand ; 
and their imported antipathies, prejudices and old country jealousies 
and feuds, which we think are tactless, useless and to us are alto- 



Page Ten FREENIGHTSCHOOLS 

gether repugnant. Can any one imagine these foreigners, to whom 
all that America means is a meal-ticket, fall in line and take up the 
burden that every citizen must share in bearing? The mere idea of 
such a probability is absurd. What does the non-English-speaking, 
the non-English-reading foreigner know about America? What 
does he care? And, by the way, what about ourselves? Are we, 
nationally speaking, making a concerted effort to teach the immi- 
grant Americanism? Are we making any attempt to instill in him 
a desire for citizenship? Are we taking the time to acquaint him 
with American ideals? For after all is said and done, the moment 
the foreigner arrives in this country, not knowing our language and 
being a social animal, he naturally gravitates towards the settle- 
ments where his compatriots live, and which we, to our shame, al- 
low to exist. There in due course of time, he is either told, or given 
to understand, that there are three American ideals which are su- 
preme: Liberty, In God We Trust, E Pluribus Unum. These all 
converge on the American dollar and that consequently the Ameri- 
can dollar is the embodiment of American idealism. In other words, 
since ideals, as we understand them, are nothing else but manifesta- 
tions of a religion, we find that to the average foreigner, after he 
has confused Liberty with License, there is no Goddess but License 
and the Dollar is Her Prophet. The writers are not inclined to be 
pessimistic; they are not readily thrown into a scare; they do not 
advocate militarism; they have no exaggerted ideas on the subject 
of preparedness ; but they do feel that not even a reasonable amount 
of National Security is to be expected, unless steps are taken that 
will enable us to digest and assimilate the polyglot population of our 
country. We feel certain that Free Night Schools under federal or 
state supervision will furnish a solution to this perplexing problem, 
which is facing the country at present. 

We are somewhat better acquainted with the other phase of the 
Free Night School question. Although, in a degree, of lesser im- 
portance to the country in general, it is directly of more concern 
to us in particular. It is the Night School from the standpoint of 
Industrial Safety. * * * * 



FREE NIGHT SCHOOLS Page Eleven 

NIGHT SCHOOL FOR THE ALIEN 

Municipalities in All Parts of the Country Aiding in Education of 

Foreigners 



From the Great Falls Tribune, August 21, 1916 

Washington, D. C, Aug. 20. — Greatly increased school facilities 
are to be provided this fall for the instruction of foreign-born resi- 
dents of the United States and especially for alien candidates for 
citizenship. During the last scholastic year the public school 
authorities of approximately 650 cities and towns in 44 states of the 
Union were co-operating with the bureau of naturalization of the 
United States department of labor in this branch of its educational 
activity. According to information thus far received by the bureau, 
nearly 100 others have signified their intention of joining in the 
movement and all indications now point to a most gratifying record 
for the 1916-17 school year. 

It is the desire of the bureau of naturalization that public school 
night classes be installed wherever the need exists for the education 
and Americanization of foreigners. This field of operation of the 
public schools is not limited to those who have applied for natural- 
ization. It is intended to include all foreign-born residents whose 
instruction in English and civics would, beyond question result not 
only in great personal benefit to themselves, but would be of signal 
advantage to the city in which they reside and, logically, to the 
nation as well. 

That the cost of the establishment and maintenance of such 
schools is relatively small as compared with the great good accom- 
plished, is convincingly shown by reports received from the public 
school authorities who co-operated with the bureau of naturalization 
last year. With this view, the bureau is urging the superintendents 
of schools all over the country to insert in their municipal budget 
for next year an item providing funds to cover the expense of carry- 
ing on this public night school work. 



Page Twelve FREE NIGHT SCHOOLS 



AMERICANS FIRST 



(From Outlook, September 27, 1916) 

Statistics, though somewhat dry, sometimes offer the shortest 
means of telling a story. In 1900 the population of Detroit was 
285,000. In 1910 it was 465,756. It is now conservatively estimated 
at 725,000. Detroit is now treading on the heels of Cleveland for 
the privilege of calling itself the sixth city of the land. This tre- 
mendous expansion has been due to the rapid growth of industry, 
particularly the business of making motor cars. More than half 
the motor cars made in America are now made in Detroit. 

The people who have been called into Detroit by this great 
growth in industry are mainly foreign immigrants and their chil- 
dren. The colored map of the Detroit Board of Commerce showing 
the population of Detroit as distributed by races and nationalities 
looks like a war map of Europe. The splash of color indicating 
the presence of the Slavs is the largest on the map, but other broad 
smears where live Italians, Jews, Hungarians, Rumanians, Greeks, 
Belgians, Armenians, and other peoples. 

The mills which made Detroit great in size and popular pres- 
tige threatened to destroy its Americanism, and when business 
became demorlaized by the outbreak of the war abroad these mills 
seemed unable to maintain the level of prosperity which they had 
introduced. The fall of 1914 found Detroit suffering from an actue 
attack of indigestion. The city had bitten off more immigration 
than it could chew. Factories ran down and 80,000 men lost their 
jobs. Great melancholy mobs of the jobless prowled through the 
chilly streets. 

Then the Detroit Board of Commerce came to the relief of the 
city. Under the leadership of Mr. Charles B. Warren and Mr. 
Byres H. Gitchell, its President and Secretary respecitvely, the 
Board organized help for the men out of work. Doctors who vol- 
unteered their services were formed into squads to provide free 
treatment for the sick children and wives of the unemployed, law- 
yers of similar altruism came forward to save penniless families 
from ejectment, drug-store proprietors donated medicines, and well- 



FREE NIGHT SCHOOLS Page Thirteen 

to-do citizens donated sacks of food, each sack sufficient to keep 
two people alive for three days. In the meantime the Board of Com- 
merce tried to get work for those who had lost it. The effort was 
successful in the cases of those foreign laborers who could speak 
English, but most of the sixty thousand men who knew only the 
tongue of the land of their birth, remained jobless. Then and there 
the Board of Commerce found the germ of the trouble. They 
learned that most of the unemployment was due to the inability 
of foreign laborers to fit American jobs, which was due primarily, 
of course, to their inability to understand English. 

Thereupon the members of the Board of Commerce went to 
work to remedy the evil by striking at its root. They assisted the 
Board of Education in opening night schools where the foreigners 
might learn English. The Board of Education, by the way, had 
been more than anxious to do this for several years, but without 
the assistance of the manufacturers who employed all this foreign 
labor, the educators were almost helpless. The leaders of the Board 
of Commerce got the manufacturers to help, and in the winter of 
1914-1915, the work of Americanizing Detroit began on a large 
scale. It has not ceased, until now Detroit begins to deserve, as 
perhaps it deserved formerly, the flattering characterization of "the 
most American city in the United States." 

Other cities have also become aroused to the importance of 
being American, and have taken steps to hurry the process of 
digesting foreign lumps in their midst. Rochester, N. Y., has been 
a pioneer in this direction. But at Rochester the task of making 
Americans from immigrants was taken up and carried through by 
the public schools of the city. The most interesting thing about 
the situation in Detroit is that this work was begun by the busi- 
ness men. It is true that the schools had been trying to do it before 
the manufacturers took hold. But until the interest of the great 
employers of labor was secured the efforts of the Board of Educa- 
tion bore little fruit. By the help of the business men the good in- 
tentions of the schoolmen have been converted into fruitful accom- 
plishment. 

Realizing the value of having the assistance of experienced ad- 
visers, the Detroit Board of Commerce invited the help of the Com- 
mittee for Immigrants in America. Letters were then sent to every 
employer of more than one hundred laborers in Detroit, pointing 



Page Fourteen FREE NIGHT SCHOOLS 

out the disadvantage of having to employ men who could not speak 
English, asking each employer to take a census of such "dumb" 
workers in his factory, and requesting the direct help of the manu- 
facturers in inducing the laborers to go to night school and learn 
English. 

The employers who had learned their lesson in the terrible 
winter of 1914-1915, were not slow to respond. They met the in- 
vestigators of the Board of Commerce and of the Committee for 
Immigrants in America, and suggested means of making it prac- 
ticable for the workers in their factories to go to school. As a 
result of these suggestions the Board of Commerce submitted a 
plan to every manufacturer in Detroit who hired more than a fixed 
minimum of employees. In some factories the Safety First De- 
partment took the work in charge; in others, control was assumed 
by the so-called welfare departments — which have become very 
popular in Detroit; in others, an executive of the company made 
himself personally responsible. 

In all factories posters were placed on bulletin boards urging 
the men to go to school in order to "become better citizens and get 
better jobs." In all factories slips bearing similar advice were in- 
serted in pay envelopes. Every one in Detroit jumped into the 
campaign with enthusiasm. Saloon-keepers pasted on saloon walls 
the posters adjuring the alien to embrace Uncle Sam, department 
stores put slips of information about the night schools in the pack- 
ages of every customer who looked like a foreigner; ministers 
preached "Americanism" in the churches of the foreign quarters, 
and the editors of foreign newspapers harped on the same key in 
editorial addresses to their people. Whenever an Italian or Polish 
young woman drew a book from the public library she found there- 
in one of the ubiquitous slips telling how her friends who knew no 
English might learn it free. * * * * 

As a result of this tremendous activity the Detroit night schools 
opened on Monday evening, September 13, 1915, with an attend- 
ance increased over the previous record by one hundred and fifty- 
three per cent, and with thousands of would-be pupils turned away 
from school doors. * * * * 

Instead of slakening, the efforts to eradicate hyphenism in 
Detroit are steadily increasing. When I stepped off the train there 
in the latter part of last month, there were almost no signs of the 



FREE NIGHT SCHOOLS Page Fifteen 

Presidential campaign, which had already begun to set the rest of 
the country by the ears, but everywhere were evidences of this cam- 
paign of internal adjustment, "Learn English and Get Better Pay" 
was the advice, appropriate enough, indeed, flashed at me from a 
bulletin-board in the railway station and later flung at me from 
windows and bill-boards everywhere. "English-Speaking Work- 
men Wanted," said a sign on a building under construction. One 
plant, I was later told, which uses gang labor has been forced to 
employ Negroes because of the scarcity in Detroit of white work- 
men who speak English. * * * * 

Detroit was fortunate in having broadminded and capable offi- 
cials in charge of pubilc instruction. During the coming year 
$87,500 will be spent on the evening schools, which will be held in 
twenty-seven public schools, strategically placed with relation to the 
various foreign sections of the city. 

On three nights a week during the first half of the school year 
these grown-up pupils study English. A fourth night is given over 
to recreation — dances, moving pictures, and the performances of 
glee clubs and orchestras formed by the music-loving foreigners. 
On this night also the men who want it are given instruction in 
methods of applying for jobs and for naturalization. The manu- 
facturers of Detroit have agreed to give the preference among job 
applicants to those who have studied at the night schools, and an 
up-to-date attendance card with a good word from the night school 
teacher is an almost certain open sesame to a job. During the sec- 
ond half year instruction in citizenship and the method of securing 
naturalization papers is given to those who want it. Then at the 
end of the year those who have completed the courses in English 
and citizenship in the night schools are given certificates to this 
effect. It is indicative of the extent to which all the public author- 
ities of Detroit are working together toward a common end that 
these certificates are usually handed to the members of the grad- 
uating class by the very judge who later passes on the fitness of the 
candidates for citizenship. * * * * 



Page Sixteen FREE NIGHT SCHOOLS 



EVENING SCHOOL 

From Yearly Report of S. D. Largent, Superintendent of Schools, 
Great Falls, Montana, January 1, 1917 



Much interest is manifested throughout the country in night 
schools for adult foreigners. It is important to the state and to the 
nation that these people have an opportunity to become familiar 
with the English language and American customs and only by this 
means can they understand the purpose and spirit of American 
institutions ; their relation to the community, the duty of citizenship, 
the purpose of a free government, right living, and efficient service. 
These things can only be understood and appreciated by these peo- 
ple by schooling them in the language and in the purpose of democ- 
racy. 

To secure this, night schools must be established and I think 
an important feature in these schools should be the teaching of the 
mothers the English language and the advantages of the American 
home. 

At present, there is no law for the use of school funds for 
schools of this character in this state. It appears to me that steps 
should be taken looking to the passing of a law at the next legisla- 
ture that will enable the schools to take charge of this work. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

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